The sole commander of the “NuTSR” group (TSR LLC, Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum LLC, OSR Games LLC) and named litigant in the TSR vs Wizards of the Coast counter-suit,1TSR LLC v. Wizards of the LLC https://dockets.justia.com/docket/washington/wawdce/2:2021cv01705/306376 Justin is also the owner of and an artist at Hardwire Tattoo in Wilmington, North Carolina. He is also the former head of a few now defunct businesses such as Happy Acres (a now closed legal marijuana farm) and Port City Vapor Kava & Oxygen Bar LLC (to try to sell the Happy Acres weed). He is the present owner of the house that originally housed the historic Dungeon Hobby Shop – originally owned and operated by Gary Gygax.
He is also a failed political candidate having lost in the Republican primary for the North Carolina House of Representatives District 20 in 2020 and a mayoral run in Wilmington, NC in 2011. One of these runs leg to him being associated with the word “grits” for unwholesome reasons.2The News & Observer, Video of women wresting in grits sparks feud between NC primary election candidates (Bailey Aldridge, 25 February 2020) https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article240600416.html
He also has a personal web site where he refers to himself a Sir Justin LaNasa for no clear reason.
This entry will be updated from time to time for clarity and accuracy.
Table Top Role Playing Games
Pre-TSR/Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum
Despite various claims to represent or be here to save the OSR (Old School Revival/Renaissance) Justin was largely person non-grata in the community in the past. His 2017 Kickstarter “Caverns of Chaos” attracted only 6 backers.
His publishing experience is only in vanity publishing a children’s book (co-authored with his daughter), and Tales and Tots – a book for playing RPGs with your 3 year olds that spends most of the blurb telling you the credentials of non-authors Erie Gygax and Jeff Leeson. 3Google Books: Tales and Tots https://books.google.co.nz/books/about/Tales_and_Tots.html?id=XiuzzAEACAAJ
The Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum and TSR LLC
While he is very much the face and the personality behind it, Justin was not the one who thought of the idea and is in fact – not even in business with one who started it. As outlined in a pair of interviews (1, 2) on Tenkar’s Tavern, the original plan was put together by Scott Griffin who had planned to recreate the shop as authentically as possible and brought on Ernie Gygax as part of that.
Ernie, unwilling to wait for Scott to get funding together, advised Justin of the plan and was brought on board by Justin along with Jeff Leeson when LaNasa purchased the property and started plans to open the museum as a for profit venture (Justin also owns a Museum of the Bizarre which is apparently an attempt to monetize his wife’s demand to move his personal collection out of the house)
According to for TSR Public Relations Officer Michael K Hovermale, a lot of the exhibits in the museum were bought from a single collector and according to at least one review on Tripadvisor, most of the items in it are items that can be bought on eBay or found online.
According to both the controversial leaked copy of Star Frontiers: New Genesis and copy submitted by Justin as the “real” version in the lawsuit he is the co-author of the Star Frontiers: New Genesis game – though it is unclear what parts of it are his contributions since the general understanding is Dave Johnson (of No Hate In Gaming fame, content warnings for racism, homophobia, transphobia, white supremacy and Nazi imagery) was writing it.
Behind Closed Doors
According to reports from Don Semora, Michael K Hovermale and anonymous sources – Justin is prone to making even more inflammatory statements (summarized here by No Hate In Gaming) and make bizarre claims such as being a former military contractor (Blackwater), a former FBI agent, having a CIA agent friend who can get special information, and having some special proof of permission to use Wizards of the Coast trademarks from the company themselves that he will reveal at the end of the trial.
Regardless of these, what can be confirmed is that for most of the time the TSR Discord server was active – it was moderated by Michael Yach – a man from Wisconsin who openly expressed a passion for Confederate president Jefferson Davis, rants against “the woke”.
Dave Johnson remains a member of the Discord and kept his membership in the Discord after being publicly outed as a Nazi and all evidence points towards that he kept the “controversial” version of Star Frontiers: New Genesis with the “Negro” race on a server Justin had full access to.
Personal
For a guy who used to run a vape shop, and who should remember back when Tommy Lee was with Pamela Anderson… Justin has some odd Facebook posts:
He also posts dog whistles and then supports outright reactionary nonsense from time to time:
Unsurprisingly nobody ever gets chastised for this kind of statement, and yes, part of the support on that post is from Justin himself.
Father (William Gentry)
By all reports Justin’s father left the family when Justin was young and only recently re-entered his life. Based on his posts on Facebook, choice of photos etc he seems pre-occupied with his granddaughter – but that hasn’t stopped him from actively:
- Commenting on Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum and related Facebook pages
- Dropping into other Facebook groups to try to tell them “the truth about” Justin (it’s he’s just good okay, don’t talk about the bad stuff he does)
- Advising in the chat of premiered YouTube videos that they have to be wary of anyone who is “not one of us”
- Apparently notifying various Facebook groups of things on Justin’s behalf
William also posts his regressive, reactionary politics on Gab.
- 1TSR LLC v. Wizards of the LLC https://dockets.justia.com/docket/washington/wawdce/2:2021cv01705/306376
- 2The News & Observer, Video of women wresting in grits sparks feud between NC primary election candidates (Bailey Aldridge, 25 February 2020) https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article240600416.html
- 3Google Books: Tales and Tots https://books.google.co.nz/books/about/Tales_and_Tots.html?id=XiuzzAEACAAJ